Eleventh Grade Lauds
by Nobdy'sMelody
Summary: Vladimir Tod is shocked to find out another vampire is living with Otis. And its not just any vampire: a girl, his father's "little doll." Love, loss, blood, and, of course, vampires.
1. Chapter 1

_My name is Vladimir Tod. And I am a vampire._

_Or, rather, half-vampire._

I entered Uncle Otis' house. It used to be mine, before my parents died in a mysterious fire and I went to live with Nelly, my mom's best friend. A scent carried to my nose and I shivered, but not from cold.

Vampires. There were vampires in Bathory.

I made my way to the living room, where I heard voices. A dozen or so vampires sat scattered around the room. But one drew my attention as I searched for Otis.

A girl, no older than me, with pale skin and pink flower-petal lips was perched on the couch's arm beside Otis, petting his hair. Her delicate white hands ended in black-painted nails. I sat as Otis gestured for me to do so and tried to speak to him telepathically: _Otis, who are all these pe—"_

He cut me off. Silence filled my mind. Everyone was listening to one vampire, who was speaking in Elysian Code, which I hadn't yet mastered. Even the girl seemed to follow his words, even though she seemed maybe a year younger than my sixteen.

The girl was a doll. Her copper hair curled gracefully, framing her face and falling down her back. Her wide blue eyes were child-like, but had a distinctly adult understanding and focus. She wore an old-fashion dress, what was it that Meredith had called those dresses? Short, puffy, old-fashioned-looking dresses? Lolita?

Yeah, that sounded right. (1)

She looked like a porcelain doll. Nelly had some of them in the attic.

The speaking vampire, Cratus, was reminded to speak English so everyone could understand. I blushed, knowing I was the only one who hadn't understood Elysian Code.

"The changes to the Stokerton council are greatly disturbing. Under D'Ablo's continued leadership—"

"A crime in its own right," Vikas, who I hadn't noticed until that moment, spat.

"—it seems that the Stokerton council is becoming less of government and more a religious sect. The vampires there follow D'Albo blindly, as if he were a prophet whose wisdom were not based on fairy tales and hidden agendas. And it gets worse. D'Albo has somehow managed to weasel his way onto the Council of Elders."

It was like a bomb went off. Everyone in the room was a bomb and they had all reached their 0:00 countdown. Some made threats on D'Ablo's life.

"Peace, my brethren. We must remain calm," Otis chided.

The girl smiled slightly.

The meeting continued. Then a vampire, Dorian, requested my blood. I froze. The girl sighed; rolling her eyes, she spoke for the first time. "Dorian, calm yourself. We all need Vladimir _alive._ So snap your trap and leave if you refuse to stop."

Her voice was like little bells.

"Laudie," Otis turned to her, "_Mon Cheri_, please hold your tongue."

The girl, Laudie, shut her mouth. "Oh, my pretty one," Dorian walked towards her. "You act so high and mighty, but we all know who your father is."

"Locked together in hatred," she whispered detachedly.

Dorian fell silent. I could swear I heard him gulp.

"Goodnight, sweet prince. May flights of devils wing you to your rest," her little voice was deathly serious.

"Is that a threat?" the blood-crazed vampire asked.

And she smiled at him. "No. My father makes threats. I make promises. Now cease your hunt for the young Vladimir's blood."

Dorian stormed out.

The other vampires soon followed. But the girl, this Laudie, remained. She focused her eyes only on Otis.

"You should not have done that, my love," my uncle whispered to her. "Dorian will be out for your blood next."

"But you will protect me, will you not, Otis?"

And my uncle smiled at her, petting her pale cheek, "_Oui_."

"Otis?" I questioned. "Who is she? What is she doing here?"

The doll stared at me: "He is the one."

Otis nodded. "The one? What are you talking about? Otis, who is she?" I asked frantically. Some strange vampire child resided in my house. I had a right to know.

"Will you leave me for him, too, then, Otis?" she questioned, her blue eyes fixed on me.

"Go to your room for now, Laudie," Otis ordered. She opened her mouth to protest. "Please, love? It has been a long day. You need your rest."

So she hopped down daintily, landing on the balls of her feet. Once she left the room, Otis turned to me: "Vladimir…"

"Explain this all to me, Otis. Who is she? What is she? Why is she here?"

"Vladimir, she…Laudie is someone your father and I practically raised in her vampire life. Your father, myself, and her father."

"And…?"

Otis sighed, "Vlad, she does not get along with her father, her creator, very well. They…had their differences and fights. She stayed in Russia with Vikas for some time, and now I shall watch her."

"What did she mean, 'leave her for me'?"

Vikas answered this time: "Vladimir, she and Tomas were very close. He was her mother and her father. She was his little doll, his white and lovely doll forever. And then he left Elysia for you and your mother. And Laudie was heartbroken. And she believes her Otis will leave for you, too."

My heart dropped. "Tell me…her story."

"Laudie's story is not a pretty one. I am…ashamed to admit that I fed from her, as did your father, Tomas," Otis bit his lip.

I raised my eyebrows.

"We fed from her, her little wrists held to our mouths. We were hungry, that was the only reason we took the little angel. She writhed and cried out, but her father held his hand over her mouth when he pushed Tomas and I away and took her as his own.

"Laudie became a vampire that night, her little voice whispering, 'I want some' in her blood-stained gown as she smelt blood. Her father, oh, he said he wanted a daughter. She was our daughter now. Our little Laudie. He might've done it to stop us from leaving, from roaming as we usually did. He might've known we'd love her, her little lips and eyes, her voice proclaiming we must read to her or that she needed a new dress. And we spared her no expense.

We brought tailors in by the moonlight to make her the finest dresses a child could have. She was our little doll; we could dress her up and play with her. She allowed us to brush her hair and give her her own dolls, even though she was fifteen. 'Come here, my little doll,' Tomas used to say. 'Come here and let me dress you.'

"But she was a mystery to us. A child vampire. You must be sixteen to be classified as an adult in our world and we had never seen a vampire younger than she. Laudie loved us, Tomas and me. And she fought with her father, stomping her little foot, ripping the heads off her dolls to throw at him. She would feed recklessly to anger him.

"And she questioned him, though he had been a vampire less time than your father or I. She taunted him with questions. And she never knew which one of us had turned her into an immortal child.

"I remember her stomping into the room with scissors, yelling 'which on of you did it? One of you did it! Which one of you made me the way I am?' She was beyond furious. She was stuck eternally in a young body, never to grow up. 'You made me what I am, didn't you?' she screamed at her father. She slapped his face with the scissors. 'I shall never ever grow up!' she cried to him when he said 'It's a gift. You will never grow old; you will never die.' Laudie did something I never thought I'd see her do."

"What?" I asked, completely in rapture at his story.

"She tried to kill him."

"WHAT?" I jumped from my seat. Vikas motioned for me to quiet down and I sat again, flushing. "She…tried to kill her father?" I whispered.

Otis nodded: "Yes, Vladimir. She was sick of him. One more reason she lives without him. She told him she wanted to make peace, told him she brought presents. And then she slit his throat and said the same words she said to Dorian earlier…"

"Goodnight, sweet prince. May flights of devils wing you to your rest," we both whispered together. Otis nodded once more.

"'Locked together in hatred,' she said to your father and I. 'but I can't you two. My loves, I was mortal until you…gave me your immortal gifts. You became my mother,' here she touched my shoulder, 'and my father,' and she touched Tomas', 'and so I am yours forever.' She loved us dearly, as I said before. And so our little doll was ours alone. But her father was not truly dead. He revived himself.

"'Laudie,' he said to her, 'you have been a very, very naughty little girl. Get her out of my sight!' So Tomas and I took her."

"And now…?" I questioned.

"And now I am afraid I must leave her, to be with you and Nelly. Vikas will watch over Laudie," Otis finished up his story.

I jumped up from my seat, "No! She's counting on you!"

"Can you please stop talking about me?" a sweet little girl's voice came from the staircase.

We all turned. "Laudie," I whispered.

"So the great Vladimir Tod knows my story now. I am the Angel of Death. Are you afraid?" she descended the steps, coming towards me.

I shook my head, "No."

"Think we could be friends, too?" she folded her hands behind her back. I got the full view of her nightgown. Short, pink, lacey. Looked like something you might wear in older times. (2)

I focused on her eyes and not the pale skin of her body and nodded, "Sure."

And she smiled. The first real smile I had ever seen from her.

It was beautiful.

"Goodnight, Vladimir," she whispered, climbing the stairs once more. She stopped suddenly and turned back, smirking, "oh, and good luck at school tomorrow."

I stared at the spot the stairs she had stopped at for a moment before Otis chuckled, "Perhaps, you should go upstairs and sleep, Vlad. I'll call Nelly and tell her you're spending the night."

I nodded, in a daze, and climbed the stairs to my old room.

"Sweet dreams, Mahlyenki Dyavol," Vikas murmured softly.

Vlad was sure he would have sweet dreams. Dreams that, for the first time this summer, would not have his girlfriend, Meredith, at their center.

Or in them at all.

_This story's a little different. It's pretty much my re-write of _Eleventh Grade Burns_ with a few of my own characters and situations thrown in. See, I was reading _Interview with the Vampire_ and thought "well, wouldn't it be cool if a Claudia-like character was in the Vladimir Tod series. He'd have really no trouble with her because she's not human. And she'd understand and help him with all the vampire stuff." And so this story was born. 3 _

_And I own nothing but Laudie so far._

_/fanplusfriend/c1/Gothic_Lolita_Detachable_Sleeves_Tiered_Back_Dress_DR00094___ (The Lolita dress she's wearing when Vlad first sees her)_

_(Her nightgown)_

_Review review review! _


	2. Chapter 2

_My name is Vladimir Tod. And I am a vampire._

_I hate school._

The first day of school is one word: Hell. And I'm pretty sure I've been to hell and back in my sixteen years of life.

Sure, I had my trusty best friend/drudge, Henry, by my side most of the day. But I also had to deal with his cousin, Vampire Slayer, Joss. And then there was Meredith.

Usually, I love spending time with my girlfriend. She's pretty. And she's smart. She loves pink. But today, she hung out with _Joss_, who happened to be in the same class with her as me.

I was pretty relieved to get out of my first day as a junior and have the weekend ahead of me. (We started school of the Friday. Like, WTF?) Otis was my mythology teacher, which pretty much made my horrible day, but he was staying after school, so I was to walk home alone.

But when I walked out of the school doors, there she was.

Laudie, perched daintily on one of the thick stone walls they call stair railings for the front cement steps. She looked up from her book as if she sensed my presence. She smiled and jumped down, landing on the balls of her ballerina-flat-clad feet, her copper curls bouncing slightly.

Her Lolita dress was different this time: light colors, instead of dark. (1) Light purples and pinks. (2) Her eyes were framed with black kohl, sparkling like two personal blue oceans. _Whoa, did I just say that? English class must be rubbing off on me._

"Hello, Vladimir," she said. "I'm here to escort you home."

I felt a prickle on my spine and turned around. Joss was staring at us intently with Meredith at his side, looking Laudie over head to toe, an inspection. My girlfriend excused herself and came over to me and this vampire child.

"Vlaaaad," she drawled, "Are you going to walk home with me today?"

Laudie's eyes narrowed at Meredith, scanning my girlfriend too quickly for human eyes to notice. "Sorry, Meredith," I said. "I have to go to Uncle Otis' and help do some stuff."

"Oh, okay," Meredith pouted. Then she glanced to Laudie as if she had just noticed the vampire girl was there. "Who is this?"

"I'm Laudie," my father's doll answered. "I am here to escort Vladimir home."

Meredith frowned: "What's with your outfit? No one wears dresses like that unless they're…mental."

"Hm?" Laudie glanced down at her clothes and inspected her dress. "I enjoy my dresses, thank you. And some of the best people in the world are mad."

I grabbed her arm, kissing my girlfriend's cheek before pulling Laudie away. "See you tomorrow!" I called to Meredith.

One the way home, we were silent until she stated:

"I don't like her."

"Who, Meredith?"

Laudie nodded. "She is rude. She was judging me with her eyes. And she has no right to call me mental because I dress the way I wish to."

I nodded. "Meredith just…."

"Believes that you should be like her or you're not worth the time?"

I shrugged, "Sure, I guess."

"I do not understand why boys like mean girls."

I chuckled, looking over to her, "Guys like a challenge, I guess."

"You guess a lot," she smirked up at me.

I raised my eyebrows at her, "Well, you dress like a doll."

She sighed, turning away, "I suppose I do. But this is how I grew up dressing. I was Tomas and Otis' little doll. These dresses are part of me. They remind me of how everything once was, when we were all mostly happy and Otis didn't have a death sentence over his head and Tomas was with us."

I flinched at the mention of my father's name, something I'd never done before. I guess it was the way she said it, so lonely, like my father had been the only one who cared for her. "My father," I started, "left so that he could have a family."

"He had a family with us!" She turned to me, voice raising an octave, tears in her eyes. "Otis, Tomas, and I were a family! I was their daughter! They were my mother and my father! We all loved each other!"

I found myself yelling, too. "Maybe he wanted something he could never have with you!"

"Like what?"

"Maybe a child- a real child that was created through love, not through blood," my voice lowered to a whisper.

She covered her face with her hands, "Because I was not enough for him. I was not good enough."

She was crying. This vampire was so brokenhearted that she was crying, shoulders shaking. She truly thought that she had not been enough for my father, that she wasn't good enough because she was not made the way I had been. I pulled her into my arms, hugging her tightly against my chest.

"Laudie, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's okay," I whispered into her silky hair, rubbing her back.

"Well, well, look who's here," a voice came from behind me that made me push Laudie behind me and almost sink into a crouch, ready to spring and attack.

"Joss," I hissed.

"Vlad," he nodded like this was a pleasant meeting. "And…who's this?"

I growled, "None of your business."

"It might be Meredith's, with how you held her. It might be mine, if she's a vampire," Joss smiled.

"Slayer?" Laudie whispered from behind me. I nodded.

Laudie stepped around me, curtsying, flashing Joss a charming smile, fluttering her long, dark eyelashes. "Hello...Joss, was it? I'm Laudie. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He faltered. He was shocked, staring at her pretty curls, her hypnotizing eyes, her pink lips curled into a Cheshire Cat smile. Laudie had the little-girl innocence and such a feminine beauty that made you stop and do a double take.

She offered him her hand. Unthinkingly, he accepted it, bringing it to his lips and kissing her knuckles. "Pleasure is all mine, pretty one."

Her Cheshire Cat grin grew, her blue eyes flashing red for a moment, and then blinking back to sapphire in a second. Joss gasped, his eyes on her mouth as she ran her tongue along her fangs. He stumbled backwards, falling on his butt.

She turned and smiled at me, "Let's go home, Vladimir."

She took my hand and skipped home, pulling me along as if I were a large Ken doll.

"Vikas! We're home!" Laudie announced when we stepped through the doors. My Russian friend appeared, rounding the corner from the kitchen.

"Ah, Kukolka, thank you for bringing me our Mahlyenki Dyavol," Vikas smiled warmly at Laudie.

"Kukolka?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It means 'little doll' in Russian," Vikas explained to me, patting her on the head. "Now, Laudie, go change, Kukolka, we have visitors coming tonight."

She nodded her pretty head and bounded up the stairs. I didn't understand why she needed to get changed. I thought she looked fine in her purple and pink dress.

"So, why am I here, Vikas?" I asked the old vampire in front of me.

"To discuss your training. We will train you to defend yourself and kill a Slayer, if proves in any case necessary. But, tonight, you will dine with us and our guests."

"What about Nelly?"

Vikas' eyes saddened, "As fond of her as your Uncle seems to be, it would be safer for her to dine at home tonight, instead of with many vampires. Otis has already informed her of your dining here."

As he went to walk away, he stopped and turned back to me, "Perhaps you could…show Laudie some places you go with some of your - what was it? - _Goth_? Your Goth friends?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Um, sure. I think they'd like her."

He smiled, "Good."

At that moment, Otis came through the front door with two other vampires, laughing. I watched curiously. Then, a "_Louis!_" came from upstairs and Laudie came flying down the stairs and propelled herself into the younger looking of the two new vampire's arms.

"Oh, Laudie!" He exclaimed, hugging her small frame tight before setting her on the ground to take a good look at her. "Have you grown?" he joked.

She face dropped, deathly serious, sad, and detached again, "No. I am forever a little doll."

She looked like one, too. A creamy white Lolita dress matched her alabaster skin, and a rose-like bow rested in her copper hair. (3)

I cleared my throat to excuse the awkwardness of the situation. Everyone turned to me. "So…I heard we're all having dinner. Hungry, anyone?"

Otis smiled thankfully and guided us to the dining room, where there were cups of Blood Wine and bowls of what looked like Campbell's Chunky tomato soup. I guessed that was blood, too.

We enjoyed our blood in silence, save for the few slurps from Laudie or me, trying to break the silence. When one of us would _slurp_, we'd catch each others' eyes and giggle and chuckle.

"Well," Vikas stood up. "I'm sure we've all enjoyed the meal, but we have matters to discuss. And young Vladimir has promised to take Laudie out with his Goth friends tonight, so we may let them go now."

Laudie looked over to me, surprised and excited, "Really, Vladimir?"

I nodded. "Go get dressed. And call me Vlad. No one calls me Vladimir," I suggested as we left the room.

I sat on the steps as I waited for her to get ready. I called up October and Sprat, telling them to pick us up for The Crypt.

"Snow will be there," October sang and my mouth watered. Snow, my pretty other drudge, my secret food source would be there.

At that moment, Laudie came down stairs looking very much like a little girl, her curls framing her face with a little black bow, her black and white dress looking so simple and clashing with her pale skin. My jaw dropped. She looked so little and innocent, yet so mature. (4)

"Ready to go?" she questioned softly. I nodded as October drove up in her black car. When I opened the back door for Laudie, October turned around, shocked to see another person sitting beside Sprat (who hated sitting shotgun).

"And who is this?" my first Goth friend asked me as I slid in shotgun.

I chuckled, "This is Laudie. She's staying with my Uncle for a while and I decided to bring her with me."

"Will Snow like this?" she shot at me.

"Snow will like her," I shot back.

"So, Laudie, how old are you?" October tried to make conversation after a few minutes of silent driving.

A quiet voice from the backseat replied, "…Fifteen, though it feels as if I'm much older." I laughed inwardly. Of course a vampire who'd been alive for maybe hundreds of years would feel older than the age at which they're permanently frozen.

Sprat was already sugar high on candy, bouncing in his seat as he said excitedly, "Really? I'm fifteen, too! That's cooooool! Are you going to Bathory High? We all do. You'd be a sophomore, riiiiight?"

"I'm home-schooled," Laudie answered smoothly, as if she'd had this conversation before.

"Oh, that's cool. So your parents, like, teach you?" October asked.

"That's the concept of home-schooling, but, no. I don't live with my father anymore."

"And your mom?" Sprat asked.

Laudie smiled softly over at him, "My mother is no longer with us."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Sprat looked like he'd committed a crime.

"It's okay," she soothed him, patting his hand. "She's been dead for many years."

_Duh,_ I thought, _she's been dead for over fifteen years. Waaaay over fifteen years._

We parked at the Crypt in silence. I helped Laudie out of the car. "I'm not unfamiliar with cars, you know," she whispered to me. "You don't have to help me. I've been around since automobiles were invented."

I chuckled, hugging her to my side as we walked through the painted-black doors. "Oh, this is charming," she smiled as she glanced around at everything. "The perfect place for vampires, don't you agree?" she whispered in my ear.

I nodded, "That's what I thought when I came in here for the first time."

Kristoff (formerly, David) sat with Snow, his silver (formerly, blonde) hair glinting when the lights hit it. "That boy…has strange hair. Is it natural?" Laudie questioned innocently.

"No," I shook my head. "He dyed it that color."

"Dyed?"

"He put this stuff in his hair and it changed that color. Purposefully," I explained as we ventured towards my other friends, if you exclude Kristoff, as he seemed to have something against me.

"Oh," she nodded.

"Vlad!" Snow jumped up from her seat to hug me before spotting Laudie under my arm. Her red-painted lips fell from their smile, but only for a moment.

I smiled at her, raising my hand in greeting to everyone. "Um, guys, this is Laudie. She's my uncle's friend's daughter and she's staying with him here in Bathory, so I thought I'd bring her here so meet you, I thought you'd get along."

"I love your dress," October commented, touching Laudie's shoulder.

"Thank you," the little doll smiled sweetly. "Meredith did not have the same opinion earlier. I like these friends better, Vladimir," she turned to me. "They are much kinder."

I laughed, running my fingers through my black hair. Laudie turned to Kristoff: "I like your hair. It's different."

He seemed at a loss for words and I smirked. I saw a blush coat his cheeks as Laudie smiled at him. By the time he stuttered out "T-t-thanks," she was already talking to October and Snow about where to buy dresses like hers.

I could hear the thumping heartbeats of the people meshed together on the dance floor, could hear the delectable ruby blood that flowed through their veins.

My fangs shot out of my gums.

Snow looked up at that exact moment and met my eyes. She motioned for me to follow her into the alleyway outside.

Kissing her neck gently, I whispered an apology before sinking my fangs into her white neck. The rubies hidden in her veins flowed down my throat, making me high on pleasure. I heard the door open from behind me and shoved Snow away.

When I turned, though, it was only Laudie.

"I smelled blood," she explained, glancing fleetingly at Snow then to my lips, coated in my drudge's blood. She pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve, wiping my face with it softly. She smiled, walking over to Snow, wiping off the girl's neck.

"You should be more careful," Laudie scolded me as she cleaned my friend's skin. Snow seemed slightly surprised and/or frightened with Laudie.

"Is she a…?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Laudie's a vampire, too."

My little doll smiled cutely at Snow, looking very much like a little girl aiming to please, "Don't worry; I won't hurt you."

"I'm not afraid," my drudge protested. "I think it's….cool; I guess would be the best word. Interesting."

"And that's why you let Vladimir feed from you?" Laudie raised an eyebrow.

"I am his drudge. Why not give him what he needs? And…I can't say it doesn't give me some kind of pleasure."

"Vlad," Laudie sang, glancing at me over her shoulder, "Meredith's got some competition."

Snow and I both blushed. "I think I like you better than Meredith," Laudie offered Snow her hand, smiling sweetly. "You're much nicer."

"Thanks," my drudge allowed Laudie to help her up, brushing herself off. "So, inside, shall we?"

I nodded, still flushed, and we entered The Crypt again. I felt Laudie grasp my shirt sleeve gently, like she was frightened of losing me in the crowd.

"Vladimir?" she whispered. "I don't mean to ruin your evening, but can we go home soon? I really like it here and I like all your friends, but I feel like Otis needs us."

"Yeah, I feel it, too," I agreed. "Let me get October."

We stepped into October's car ten minutes later, both Laudie and I sliding into the back seat. I pulled the vampire girl towards me, tucking her against my body. I felt safer, more content, and less blood-thirsty when she was close.

My eyes drooped closed as we both fell asleep in the back of October's car.

_

* * *

_

(1) /fanplusfriend/c1/Gothic_Lolita_Detachable_Sleeves_Tiered_Back_Dress_DR00094_ (the first dress Vlad sees her in, from Chapter 1)

_(2) .com/servlet/the-1417/Sweet-Lolita-Ticered-Back/Detail (The dress she meets Vlad at school in)_

_ (3) .com/servlet/the-1814/Pirate-Lolita-Bias-Tiered/Detail(The dress she wears at dinner)_

_(4) .com/servlet/the-808/Elegant-Gothic-Art-Rose%26Chains/Detail the dress she wears to The Crypt)_

_I do not own Vladimir Tod. Reveiw!_


	3. Chapter 3

_My name is Vladimir Tod. And I am a vampire._

_I am just realizing how much I don't know._

…_.._

Oh. My. God. Like, Holy Crap.

I knew nothing of these apparently amazing powers some vampires have.

Meredith was babbling on about something in my ear as we walked out of school two weeks later. I saw October and Sprat leaning against the bottom of the stairs. October raised her plucked eyebrows at me. I rolled eyes.

"And, Vlad, it was so blah blah blah blah blah," was what I heard.

Melissa, Meredith's best friend, was on my other side, nodding and "mmhm"-ing, agreeing with everything Meredith said. I ran a hand through my black hair, ready to yawn and have my slightly-elongated incisors show.

There, at the edge of the sidewalk, stood Vikas and Laudie, or I thought it was Laudie. The girl looked like her. She had the same long, curly copper hair, big blue eyes, Lolita dresses, and pale skin that Laudie had.

But Laudie was _not_ five years old.

This girl was little, as small as a six-year-old, holding tightly to Vikas' hand. Her cheeks were rosy, like vampires' were after they fed. Her wide blue eyes, a big too big for her face, stared around until they locked to mine. She suddenly smiled a big smile, tugging on Vikas' hand, motioning him down to her level and pointing to me.

The approached me so gracefully, with such fluid motion, that it looked as if they were floating on mist. When they reached me, the little girl smiled up at me, reaching for me with one dimpled hand, her bell-like voice tinkling, "Vladimir."

Meredith raised her eyebrows at the child.

I looked uncertainly to Vikas, who nodded. I reached down and lifted the little girl into my arms. She held a porcelain doll wearing clothes identical to hers in her arms. "Vladimir," she giggled, her curls pillowing her head on my shoulder. Her chubby hand played with my hair, her soft, warm breath crashing against my neck.

"Come, Vladimir," Vikas said to me, "We have much to do." I nodded and followed him down the street, back towards Otis' with the child in my arms.

"Vikas, what's going on? Who's this child? Did you guys turn her? Where's Laudie?" I asked quickly, not giving him a chance between questions to answer.

The little girl giggled, "Don't you like children, Vladimir?"

"Laudie," Vikas scolded playfully, smiling at the child in my arms, "stop teasing him and morph back."

"No fun," the little girl buried her face in my neck.

"This is Laudie?"

The little girl giggled. "Put me down!"

I held the girl under her armpits, not letting her go until her little, slipper-ed feet were safe and sturdy on the ground. She smiled up at me with a toothy grin and her eyes flashed red as, slowly, I saw her morph back into the Laudie I knew.

Her short, chubby legs became long and slim as her waist clinched in and her bust, well, busted slightly outward. Suddenly, she was the fifteen-year-old that lived with my uncle. All this happened in the matter of seconds.

And she was still smiling at me. She giggled, "Hello, Vladimir."

I said something really intelligent like "whaaaaaa?"

Laudie skipped around me, laughing.

"You…you were a child…?"

She nodded, stopping in front of me, leaning towards me. "Yes. I can't ani-morph, but I can age-morph."

"Ani-morph? Age-morph?" I furrowed my eyebrow.

"Ani-morphing is when you change into an animal, usually a bat," Vikas explained, "age-morphing is what we decided to call Laudie's special ability."

"You decided?"

Vikas nodded, "None of us had ever seen anything like it before. But it's useful at many times."

"Like when I need to hide," Laudie inserted, "Or I want something or need to feed. People are always willing to give something to or hold a child." I shuddered from the mental image of child-Laudie being held closely by some poor victim who feared that such an angel lost could get hurt, her mouth opening at their jugular vein, her teeth elongated, ready to pierce their flesh and suck the hidden rubies of blood in their bodies.

"Or if we are short on money at the movies," Vikas winked. I laughed.

I reached for Laudie, hugging her to my side. It was unconscious. I liked having her against my side, fitting like a puzzle piece. It made me feel safe, peaceful, Zen. I knew where she was and that she was okay.

I admit, I was paranoid when I wasn't with her, mostly when I was in school. What if she went for a walk in the sunlight and burned up? What if Joss got a hold of her? I had no doubt she could charm her way out of Joss, but if he wanted to, he could hurt her badly; I could picture him shoving more than his stake into her. And it made me murderous to think of it.

We began walking to the house again, Laudie under my arm the whole way. Vikas smiled knowingly at me, as if he knew something I didn't, and walked double-time, leaving Laudie and I in the dust. I couldn't see him anymore. I suddenly had the feeling someone was following us. I turned, and saw no one.

"What's wrong, Vladimir?" Laudie questioned, looking around behind us.

I shook my head, "Nothing."

But, suddenly, someone dropped from the tree above us, landing stylishly on the sidewalk. I gasped and pushed Laudie behind me.

"Hello, Vlad," Joss smirked with an evil glint in his eyes. I felt Laudie's grip on the back of my shirt tighten, then lower. Soon enough, she was clutching my pants leg, a little girl once again. "V-V-Vlad," she whimpered.

"What do you want, Joss?" I growled, baring my teeth.

Laudie's grip tightened on my jeans, her little-girl voice quivering as she shook, "Vlad, the slayer…"

"Who's the little girl, Vlad?" Joss asked. Had he not heard that part, not seen Laudie change?

She smiled at him around my side, "Hello, boy."

His eyes softened. "You…look so like her…like Cecile…"

Laudie giggled her childish giggle and waved to him, "Such a big boy. Cecile is so proud."

And I understood what she was doing. She was pretending she was Cecile. I didn't understand her motives, but I understood what she was doing.

"Cecile?" Joss sounded heartbroken.

Laudie pouted, "Joss hurts good people. Joss is a bad boy."

"No, no, Cecile, I'm not!"

Laudie shook her long curls, "Bad, bad boy." She grasped my hand. "Joss is a bad boy. He hurts good boys. Bad, bad Joss."

"No, Cecile! Look what they've done to you!" he cried out, looking traumatized. "They…they've turned you into a bloodsucker!"

She grinned at him and then up at me, "V-V-Vladimir, I'm _thirsty._ Can I…?"

I leaned down next to her, scooping her up into my arms. "No," I whispered, touching my finger to her lips.

"_Pleeeease_?" she pouted, resting her head on my shoulder, pushing her lips against my neck. I heard Joss gasp.

"Cecile," I scolded, chuckling slightly as she buried her face into my white neck. "No, you _can't_ drink from him."

"But-!"

"No," I pulled her away slightly, looking into her blue eyes. "No, Cecile."

"Cecile?" Joss' lip trembled. "No, she would never-!"

Laudie pouted at me, squirming in my arms, "Fine! Fine! Down!"

I smiled at her and put her down. Once her feet touched the ground, she threw her little arms around my leg, pushing her face against the highest point it could reach, around my hip. "Cecile…" Joss moaned as if he were in pain.

"You can have blood-wine when we get home," I told her.

"Vladimir Tod, get away from Cecile," Joss threatened.

I turned my face towards him, "But she's my little doll." I patted her blonde head. "She lets me dress her and do her hair and play with her…"

Laudie smirked, reaching for my hand. She kissed it tenderly, and then smiled up at me, showing me her fangs, which looked so much bigger in her tiny mouth. "I give her life energy," I smiled down at her and nodded. She bit gently into my finger.

Joss gasped slightly. I thought he was going to piss his pants. "No!" he cried. I smirked as he ran in the opposite direction, seemingly disturbed.

And suddenly, fifteen-year-old Laudie was holding my hand, "Come on, Vladimir. I think its best we went home now."

I nodded and let her pull my arm, slightly in a daze. Had we just done that to Joss? Had we just tortured his already tortured soul? Had we really just hurt him?

"Vladimir, he'll be fine. He doesn't want to believe it. And he'll know that we were just tricking him. Come _on!_" she tugged hard on my hand.

I shook my head fiercely and followed her home.

;;;;;

"Vladimir?" Nelly asked when I walked in the door later that night.

"Yeah?"

She came out into the foyer with a smile on her face. "Vladimir, how was school?"

I smiled back. How could I not? "School was school. I learned a lot. Laudie and Vikas walked me home."

Nelly nodded. "They really care about you, Vlad."

My chest tightened. Yes, they cared for me. And with Joss in town they could die for me. And I knew they would. I smiled weakly at her, "I know." I gave her a hug and grinned into her hair. "I'm gonna go get some sleep."

"Okay," she kissed my forehead like she used to when I was a little boy, even though I was taller than her now. "Good night, Vlad."

"Goodnight, Aunt Nelly."

And, with that, I disappeared up the stairs.

_Laudie's super power was just a sudden idea I had in a dream._

_I do not own Vladimir Tod. If I did, do you really think I would be writing on FanFiction? _

_Review and the 5__th__ book will come out faster!_


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